it may be requisite to procure for the use of the marines or convicts at those places, and transmitting information to the Commissioners of our Treasury of such proceedings. 1787 bound to China, And whereas it is intended that several of the transport ships Transports and victuallers which are to accompany you to New South Wales should be employed in bringing home cargoes of tea and other merchandize from China, for the use of the East India Company, provided they can arrive at Canton in due time, whereby a very considerable saving would arise to the public in the freight of these vessels: It is our royal will and pleasure that upon your arrival at Botany Bay, on the said coast of New South Wales, you do cause every possible exertion to be made for disembarking the officers to be and men composing the civil and military establishments, together promptly with the convicts, stores, provisions, &c., and having so done you are to discharge all the said transports or victuallers in order that such of them as may be engaged by the East India Company may proceed to China, and that the rest may return home. You will, however, take care, before the said transport ships are discharged, to obtain an assignment to you or the Governor-in-Chief for the Assignment time being, from the masters of them, of the servitude of the of servitude several convicts for the remainder of the times or terms specified Governor. in their several sentences or orders of transportation. unloaded. to the According to the best information which We have obtained, Botany Bay appears to be the most eligible situation upon the said Botany Bay. coast for the first establishment, possessing a commodious harbour and other advantages which no part of the coast hitherto discovered affords. It is therefore our will and pleasure that you do, immediately upon your landing, after taking measures for securing yourself and the people who accompany you as much as possible from any attacks or interruptions of the natives of that country, as well as for the preservation and safety of the public stores, proceed to the cultivation of the land, distributing the convicts for that pur- Cultivation pose in such manner, and under such inspectors or overseers, and of the land. under such regulations as may appear to you to be necessary and best calculated for procuring supplies of grain and ground provisions. The assortment of tools and utensils which have been Tools and provided for the use of the convicts and other persons who are to compose the intended settlement are to be distributed according to your discretion, and according to the employment assigned to the several persons. In the distribution, however, you will use every proper degree of economy, and be careful that the Commissary do Economy. transmit an account of the issues from time to time to the Commissioners of our Treasury, to enable them to judge of the propriety or expediency of granting further supplies. The clothing of Clothing. the convicts, and the provisions issued to them and the civil and military establishments, must be accounted for in the same manner. utensils. 1787 The Sirius and Supply with 200 musquets And whereas the Commissioners of our Admiralty have appointed Captain Hunter to repair on board the Sirius to assist you in the execution of your duty, and to take the command of the ship whenever you may see occasion to detach her from the settlement, and also to station the Supply tender under your orders, and to be assisting to you upon occasional services after your arrival: And to be sent to whereas it is our royal intention that measures should be taken in the islands, addition to those which are specified in the article of these our instructions for obtaining supplies of live stock, and having, in consequence of such intention, caused a quantity of arms and other to barter for articles of merchandize to be provided and sent out in the ships under your convoy, in order to barter with the natives, either in the territory of New South Wales or the islands adjacent: It is our will and pleasure that, as soon as either of these vessels can be spared with safety from the settlement, you do detach one or both of them for that purpose, confining their intercourse as much as possible to such parts as are not in the possession or under the jurisdiction of other European Powers. and 200 cutlasses, live stock. "Amply supplied with vegetables." The increase of the stock of animals must depend entirely upon the measures you may adopt on the outset for their preservation, and as the settlement will be amply supplied with vegetable productions, and most likely with fish, fresh provisions, excepting for the sick and convalescents, may in a great degree be dispensed with. For these reasons it will become you to be extremely cautious Caution as to in permitting any cattle, sheep, hogs, &c., intended for propagating the breed of such animals to be slaughtered, until a competent stock may be acquired to admit of your supplying the settlement from it with animal food, without having further recourse to the places from whence such stock may have originally been obtained. slaughtering stock. Public stock. More con victs to follow shortly. Flax. It is our will and pleasure that the productions of all descriptions, acquired by the labour of the convicts, should be considered as a public stock, which we so far leave to your disposal that such parts thereof as may be requisite for the subsistence of the said convicts and their families, or the subsistence of the civil and military establishments of the settlement, may be applied by you to that use. The remainder of such productions you will reserve as a provision for a further number of convicts, which you may expect will shortly follow you from hence, to be employed under your direction in the manner pointed out in these our instructions to you. From the natural increase of corn and other vegetable food from a common industry, after the ground has once been cultivated, as well as of animals, it cannot be expedient that all the convicts which accompany you should be employed in attending only to the object of provisions. And as it has been humbly represented unto us that advantages may be derived from the flax plant, which is found in the islands not far distant from the intended settlement, 178 not only as a means of acquiring clothing for the convicts and other persons who may become settlers, but from its superior excellence for a variety of maritime purposes, and as it may ultimately become an article of export: It is therefore our will and pleasure that you do particularly attend to its cultivation, and that you do send home, by every opportunity which may offer, samples of this article, samples to in order that a judgment may be formed whether it may not be home. necessary to instruct you further upon this subject. be sent And whereas We are desirous that some further information Exploration should be obtained of the several ports or harbours upon the coast, of the coast. and the islands contiguous thereto within the limits of your Government, you are, whenever the Sirius or the supply tender can conveniently be spared, to send one or both of them upon that Norfolk Island, situated in the latitude east from Greenwich about and longi- Norfolk service. Island to be settled. And whereas it may happen, when the settlement shall be brought into some state of regulation, that the service of the Sirius may not be necessary at the said settlement and as we are desirous to diminish as much as possible the expenses which the intended establishment occasions, you will, whenever the services of the said ship can be dispensed with, order Captain Hunter to return with Sirius to her to England: And as from such an arrangement the emoluments return to England. of your station will be diminished, it is our royal intention that the same shall be made good to you by bills to be drawn by you upon the Commissioners of our Treasury. to be pro You are to endeavour, by every possible means, to open an intercourse with the natives, and to conciliate their affections, enjoining all our subjects to live in amity and kindness with them. And if The natives any of our subjects shall wantonly destroy them, or give them any tected," unnecessary interruption in the exercise of their several occupations, it is our will and pleasure that you do cause such offenders to be brought to punishment according to the degree of the offence. You will endeavour to procure an account of the numbers inhabiting the neighbourhood of the intended settlement, and report your and reported opinion to one of our Secretaries of State in what manner our intercourse with these people may be turned to the advantage of this colony. on. And it is further our royal will and pleasure that you do by all Religion. proper methods enforce a due observance of religion and good 1787 Publick worship. Women to be brought from the islands. tion. Grants of land to emancipated convicts. order among the inhabitants of the new settlement, and that you do take such steps for the due celebration of publick worship as circumstances will permit. And whereas, as from the great disproportion of female convicts to those of the males who are put under your superintendence, it appears advisable that a further number of the former should be introduced into the new intended settlement, you are, whenever the Sirius or the tender shall touch at any of the islands in those seas, to instruct their commanders to take on board any of the women who may be disposed to accompany them to the said settleYou will, however, take especial care that the officers who may happen to be employed upon this service do not on any account exercise any compulsive measures or make use of fallacious pretences for bringing away any of the said women from the places of their present residence. ment. And whereas We have by our Commission bearing date [2 April. 1787] given and granted unto you full power and authority to Emancipa emancipate and discharge from their servitude any of the convicts under your superintendence who shall for their good conduct and a disposition to industry be deserving of favor: It is our will and pleasure that in every such case you do issue your warrant to the Surveyor of Lands to make surveys of and mark out in lots such lands upon the said territory as may be necessary for their use, and when that shall be done, that you do pass grants thereof with all convenient speed to any of the said convicts so emancipated, in such proportions and under such conditions and acknowledgements as shall hereafter be specified, viz., To every male shall be granted thirty acres of land, and in case he shall be married twenty acres more, and for every child who may be with them at the settlement at the time of making the said grant a further quantity of ten acres, free of all fees, taxes, quit-rents or other acknowConditions ledgements whatsoever, for the space of ten years, Provided that the person to whom the said land shall have been granted shall reside within the same and proceed to the cultivation and improvement thereof, reserving only to us such timber as may be growing or to grow hereafter upon the said land which may be fit for naval purposes and an annual quit-rent of after the expiration of the term or time before mentioned. You will cause copies of such grants as may be passed to be preserved, and make a regular return of the said grants to the Commissioners of our Treasury and the Lords of the Committee of our Privy Council for trade and plantations. and reserva tions. Grants to And whereas it is likely to happen that the convicts who may after their emancipation, in consequence of this instruction, be put in possession of lands will not have the means of proceeding to their cultivation without the public aid: It is our will and pleasure that you do cause every such person you may so emancipate months. free settle ment to be supplied with such a quantity of provisions as may be sufficient Emancipists for the subsistence of himself and also of his family for twelve to be supplied for months, together with an assortment of tools, &c., utensils, and twelve such a proportion of seed, grain, cattle, sheep, hogs, &c., as may be proper and can be spared from the general stock of the settlement. And whereas many of our subjects employed upon military ser- In view of vice at the said settlement, and others who may resort thither upon their private occupations, may hereafter be desirous of proceeding to the cultivation and improvement of the land, and as we are disposed to afford them every reasonable encouragement in such an undertaking, it is our will and pleasure that you do, with all convenient speed, transmit a report of the actual state and report on quality of the soil at and near the said intended settlement, the the land. probable and most effectual means of improving and cultivating the same, and of the mode and upon what terms and conditions, according to the best of your judgment, the said lands should be granted, that proper instructions and authorities may be given to you for that purpose. foreign hibited. And whereas it is our Royal intention that every sort of intercourse between the intended settlement at Botany Bay, or other All interplace which may be hereafter established on the coast of New course with South Wales and its dependencies, and the settlements of our East ports proIndia Company, as well as the coasts of China, and the islands situated in that part of the world to which any intercourse has been established by any European nation, should be prevented by every possible means: It is our royal will and pleasure that you do not, on any account, allow craft of any sort to be built for the No sailing use of private individuals which might enable them to effect such vessels to intercourse, and that you do prevent any vessels which may at any time hereafter arrive at the said settlement from any of the ports before-mentioned from having communication with any of No con the inhabitants residing within your government, without first nication receiving especial permission from you for that purpose. be built. commu from ship to shore.. G.R. GOVERNORS' COMMISSIONS. Sir Walter THE charter granted to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584, by which he Charter to was authorised to take possession of such "remote, heathen, and Raleigh. barbarous lands, countries, and territories" as he might discover, and to have, hold, occupy, and enjoy the same, is the earliest document of the kind in English history ;* and from it might be traced, .* Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and other organic laws of the United States. Washington, 1878. Part II, pp. 1379-81. |